Sorta like how Mel worked as an escort/model while first in New York on a tourist visa? I don’t care about Mel, do you? But I do want to see her damned immigration paper trail don’t you?
7 Likes
“It might be a novel someday,” Erickson wrote at one point to the lobbyist…
Sure it could. If they could resurrect William S. Burroughs to write it as he injected a hearty dose of Mexican Brown Heroin into his arm while toking on a ten-gram rock of crack cocaine.
5 Likes
Indeed, what was so special about RUSSIAN jet fuel?
There’s enough farce in this attempted deal to make it at home in “American Hustle.”
2 Likes
Apparently, her “boyfriend” did a lot of the work for her.
3 Likes
RIFLEGATE. You heard it here first.
3 Likes
tRump is a stupid person’s idea of a smart person and a poor (and greedy) person’s idea of a rich person.
4 Likes
She was an asset, not an agent, is my take. It seems unlikely that Putin would allow a Russian gun-rights group to form unless it was a front serving his purposes.
6 Likes
It can also be used as a floor wax and a dessert topping.
5 Likes
One way to read the Times article:
The Keenes, (formerly) associated with the NRA, want to buy fungible jet fuel from Gazprom, a company owned by Putin’s Government and known to negotiate ‘sweet deals’ for Russian Oligarchs.
The Keenes are not in the business of buying or selling petroleum products themselves, but find partners to buy the fuel they obtain from Russia. (The Keenes are the brokers for the deal)
They want to buy 5,000,000 barrels of jet fuel - at today’s prices that would be about $450 million worth. That’s a pretty big deal for first-time brokers…
They contact Butina to make the connection between their buyers and the Gazprom refiners. (A cut-out?)
However, instead of doing exactly what she was told to do, Butina tries to cobble together a bunch of smaller players to do the job.
The buyers, fearing a scam, back out and tell the FBI.
10 Likes
Just like Carter Page could not have conceivably been a Russian Agent because really, all he was doing was trying to get a huge income stream from Putin’s national oil company.
9 Likes
Butina? Not a made member, but a good earner.
2 Likes
what ? … you already exhausted ? …
7 Likes
a photo i had not seen. the GOP operatives certainly make odd fashion choices
5 Likes
Amazing – none of my graduate students ever had such exciting adventures.
1 Like
That implies that the Russians are stupid and inept. They are anything but that.
More likely, the whole operation was to get the goods on a few more Americans AND establish Mss. Hot Pants as an independent operator, cementing her as a good guy with the GOP and NRA.
I’ve been to both Russia and the USSR several times. Eastern Europe, a lot more. I’ve met KGB folks, GRU folks and trust me, they are not stupid.
De Tocqueville offered Muricans a unique view of themselves which opened many eyes. We learned about ourselves through him, as a nation. Not all agreed, but having a global mirror pointed at you is rather informing.
Today’s Russians are better than de Tocqueville and far better informed. They understand us extraordinarily well, just not for friendship. We are liars and cheats (think NATO for Poland, the Baltics, turkey, etc.) who destroy treaties and understandings. Trump has only made things worse. Funny thing, the general tone of Russkie media is one of disdain. Laughter, and scorn about Trump, not something you do to close friend.
3 Likes
The jetsons were great! Elroy and all.
4 Likes
Jet fuel deal just needed a little grease…or lube, or… you know…
2 Likes
I’ve also read the term “agent of influence” for people like this. Your job isn’t to gather intelligence; it’s to influence public opinion in a way the hostile nation wants, or to bring about other desirable outcomes. Trump himself is an agent of influence by this definition.
9 Likes